Nine boxes of Decware goodness just showed up at my office: six boxes for the speakers, and three containing the pairs of the grille-tops, spikes and capacitors/resistors. In person, this group is bigger than they seemed in the abstract. And yes, they appear packed for a shuttle launch. Bob's packaging appears designed to laugh at UPS!

Lon, or anyone else, what is the best way to empty the box? Is it safe to open it at the top, and then tip it over and slide the styrofoam case out?

Congrats, Pale. Let them time to sound right. Don't judge them until a 300 aprox. hrs of break-in or so. I even thought I would have to return them back. Glad I didn't. Nevertheless, I find them a bit "shouty" and probably is due to my pair specifically. Bob and I are dealing with it.

Their effortless and charming presentation, very natural tonal balance, articulation and imaging are top notch in my opinion. Nicely detailed too. You are gonna love that. ;)

No worries here. In fact, I just gave Bob my first listening impressions today with just two pairs installed. I don't perceive mine as shouty at all. First impression, running on my mid-fi home theater Denon:

1. Amazing soundstage and imagery. I have an irregular room, with very high ceilings, multiple level of windows, and plenty of both bright and dampened walls. The room is not a box, open on all sides into other rooms, stairwells and entry ways. Soundstage in all directions. Large chorale works are amazing.

2. Conversely, instrument separation, and stability, is rock solid. When the drum kit on Moonlight Acoustica first appears, it comes out of nowhere and stays right where it appears.

4. Bass is tight, but still a touch light. We'll see how that plays out. I unhooked my sub, and will live without it for a while. Bob and I are discussing a WO32, but I believe most music won't require it, though HT will require something.

5. Sound is still a bit thin, mostly I think due to the Denon. It can only get better, and even now, I have not experienced fatigue.

Alright! Glad you got to hear a pair finally! They're just going to keep getting better and better. Give the bass a few more days to bloom, a week or more for the full-blown bass to be there. You're in for such a treat when you get the Ultra and the Torii in play!

Woo -hoo! Glad to hear your system is starting to come together. The major pieces are in place; now it is time to begin the journey of getting it all to work together. There is a word for that -- yeah, it's called synergy. No doubt -- you will have that in spades with all the Decware gear you have on hand. You are blazing trails for the rest of us. We'll hold you to the highest standards -- pressure's on.

Ok, maybe I am kidding. Maybe.

The interesting thing, like Juan mentioned, it to give them time. I know you wrote that you are happy with your first listen but I can't help but thinking, after being so accustomed to the soundstage and imaging on your headphone rig, that sometime won't seem quite "right" to begin with. I remember Lon writing about his transition from the IT Radials with their more conventional front-firing driver.

Thanks M. No worries on either score. My positive reaction on first listening is solely a confirmation tha I am pleased with the first listen, zero buyer's remorse. I fully expect the speakers to change significantly, especially when the Toriis and Ultra are applied.

The most significant change for the next days and weeks is gonna be the bass as Lon mentioned. They are quite sensitive with placement too, a good placement is required. Rotate the speakers pointing a bit out of your ears so that the imaginary direction of the tweeters meet and cross around 4 feet back of your head or something like that depending on the distance and your room. So don't let the tweeters looking at you like a perfect triangle.

And of course as you know, don't place them very near the walls to prevent bloated bass and out of control. The soundstage/imaging is affected due to that as well.

Pale, if you think they sound nice right out of the box, well, the next few months you are gonna be insanely shocked.

Honestly, when I first listen to them they sounded horrible in my point of view.

JA: I tend to set a low expectation framework, especially when I am enthusiastic about a purchase. Sounds contradictory, I suppose. It's my own version of Ben Franklin's "I am a pessimist, so that I am often pleasantly surprised." I didn't expect the ERRs to blow me away, and so their relative smoothness and quickness were quite pleasant to hear. And while the imagery and sound staging are hyped a bit much on the web page, I was not prepared for just how good they are out of the box on mediocre equipment. Knowing they are going to bloom is a real reward. "Horrible"? I suppose, depending on one's reference point, that could be true, but not in my case. I have spent way more for a pair of speakers than I did for all three pairs of ERRs (and what I will likely spend on the WO32), and gotten less.